Little Miss Independent

Welcome to Wednesday Word, a weekly linkup for everyone, not just health and fitness bloggers. Each Wednesday you will have a single word prompt to write about. Let your imagination run free and share with your readers your interpretation of that word, or simply use it as inspiration for your post. Today’s word is independent…… I’d love to have you link up, and if you do, please remember to follow my six simple rules.

Independent – not dependent,
Not requiring or relying on others, showing a desire for freedom….

“She has an independent attitude toward life.”

My mom tells me that when I was really little I wanted my own space. Unlike my brother, when it was bed time I wanted to go to my room and go to bed. I’d have none of that silly cuddling stuff. And while you’re at it, Mom and Dad, don’t tell me how to brush my teeth or which clothes to wear. I can figure that out on my own, too.

Fast forward to right after I graduated from college. I moved to a new town, started teaching, and found an apartment on my own. I skipped the roommate scene and lived alone until Bill and I got married two years later. Poor Bill – I was used to doing what I wanted, when I wanted, and without any need to compromise…

That independent attitude has served me well and set me up for success in long distance running. Heading out for a twenty-mile run alone isn’t for the faint of heart, and for my first couple of years of marathon training, I trained alone.

My goal was to run those twenty-milers in three hours. That’s three hours of just me and my thoughts. No music. No conversation. Just plenty of time to strategize on my next marathon.

Being independent allowed me to be comfortable running alone, to run when it was convenient for me and my family, and to run at my own pace.

Come race day, my independence paid off as well. From figuring out how I would get to the race, to making sure I had everything I needed for several hours, to not minding running alone even though alongside thousands of other runners.

Running a marathon can be a long and lonely race, but I was always prepared. I’d had years of being independent, and that made me a better marathoner.

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That’s really funny, because after our group run last night we went out for dinner. And we were discussing this very subject! Quite a few people join the group because they can’t fathom running a long run alone.

I enjoy running in a group, but I’ve run plenty of long runs with just me, myself & my thoughts.

Interesting! I consider myself fairly independent as well especially compared to my sisters. I do not however like to work out or run by myself. It is definitely more fun and motivating for me to do it with friends. Have a great day!

I love that you made that correlation between training alone and running marathons. I’ll never forget doing my IM–I had wonderful training partners for al the miles. But come race day, it was a bit lonely without them. I’ve made it a point to mix up my runs ever since, some with friends, others solo.

I am independent when it comes to running and I often run alone, which is fine by me. I don’t rely on having company for long runs, but I love when Kim and I run together, and even when Barry and I run together. We don’t run together, together, but he will check in throughout the run (practically running circles around me! 🙂 ) and I look forward to it.

I was independent to the point of stubbornness when I was a kid. Example: I have heard this story many times, although I don’t remember it myself. When I was 4 I was at that stage of wanting to dress myself, but in typical 4-year-old fashion I took too long. Dad was running late for work one day and in an effort to hurry me up, he put my underwear on for me and then allowed me to do everything else. When we got to the front door, ready to go, I realized I hadn’t put my own underwear on. You see where this is going? I stood there in the front door and took all of my clothes off just so I could take my underwear off, and put it back on myself. 🙂

I’m Debbie (or Deb), a lover of family, life, and all things running; and I aspire to share my love of fitness through Deb Runs. As a personal trainer and running coach, I enjoy helping others adopt a healthy lifestyle to improve the quality of their lives.

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